“We Are Lady Parts”. Yes. We are.
I’m a Gen X-er from Los Angeles. I’ve lived in London, the UAE, Bahrain and now, Scotland. When I saw an ad for Nida Monzoor’s We Are Lady Parts, about a Muslim female punk band, I went crazy for it! I know that the oppressed Muslim woman stereotype homogenises Muslim women’s lived experiences into silence, obedience & victimhood. This is a sweeping and diminishing portrait of Muslim women that people actually believe to be true.
Nida Monzoor wrote and directed this super fun show that paints a portrait of young women with complexity and layers who were true to their faith and, most importantly, themselves. These are the Muslim women I recognised from my own life.
As well as capturing nuances within a Muslim community, Monzoor captured the essence of being a young woman. Like the awkward exhilaration of being with someone you like, figuring out how to use your voice (or actually realising you have one) and breaking the rules. I remember this so well when I was a young black woman in the early 90s.
I was in a punk band with another stereotype smashing Sistah, guitarist & accordion-playing Angela. Yes, accordion! She’s pretty bad-ass. Our songs were as raging as the Lady Parts songs written by Monzoor and her siblings. The character Ameena, played by Anjana Vasan, also looks a lot like Angela. It reminded me of a conversation during band practice about our song, “Let’s do Cocaine”, penned by myself. Angela was so uncomfortable with the lyrics that she asked, “ Can we say ‘Let’s Play in The Rain’. My parents might hear this.” It was so sweet. We didn’t change the lyrics.
Angela & I are approaching our 50s and we’re still friends. Our band practices are on cassette tape, and she says we’re not as bad as we remember. I don’t believe that, but it’s nice thinking of those times. We are Lady Parts took me back into the beer-drinking band practices of The Po Hos. Yes, that was our name. Our name also made Angela uncomfortable, but she needn’t worry; we never made it onto a stage. With all the anarchic fun came drama, mainly amongst other band members and myself. We were young and just trying to figure life out while screaming over ear-piercing guitars.
This was the spirit of We are Lady Parts. Young women who don’t want to be boxed in by what they are SUPPOSED to be, women who fuck up; who want to have a good time and be respected in their own community for being who they are.
There’s a scene where Ameena sings a cracker of a 90s tune, originally sung by a man. Hearing her sing the lyrics spoke to what I’ve felt most of my life. I’ve heard the song a million times. Still, it never resonated as deeply as to how Nida Monzoor so powerfully presented it to me in the context of this show. Brilliant.
We Are Lady Parts is cute, irreverent, and so much fun. Unlike the snooze-fest girl film, Moxie, which delivered a story with faux bravery & zero gravitas. We Are Lady Parts is unapologetically Muslim, female & PUNK AF.
We are Lady Parts was aired on E4* in the UK, Peacock in the US & Showcase in Canada & Stan in Australia
*all episodes simultaneously becoming available for streaming on All 4 & Peacock